What will the game consoles of the future look like?

In the future, most gaming will be done over the internet, meaning that
consoles could take on a whole new shape

It is only a few weeks since the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 launched in the UK, but the design team at VoucherCodesPro.co.uk is already looking ahead to the next generation of consoles.

They have come up with a selection of concept images of the future Xbox and PlayStation consoles, highlighting the most obvious features while taking into consideration the sorts of changes that have been made to the consoles over the years.

The overriding idea is that games will be accessible via a cloud service rather than by a disk, meaning that designers will have a lot more artistic freedom when it comes to developing consoles.

In the future, the Wii remote will communicate directly with the nearest TV and will be the only piece of equipment the customer needs in order to game. When the remote is off, the interface appears blank and the surface is only broken by pinholes for the speaker element, according to the researchers

Rather than being separate components, the buttons are subtle ridges on the surface of the remote. When on, LEDs just under the skin of the remote shine through to indicate the function of each button. The interactive surface consists of a tactile, semi-translucent rubber.

PS5

The next-generation Playstation will be the size of a hard drive and combine Sony's cameras with the increasingly angular and modular aesthetic of the PlayStation franchise.

Again, the console will communicate with an online service - a platform allowing gamers to download the latest titles and compete against each other. The design will also incorporate a power light in blue, a colour that has become synonymous with PlayStation over the years.

Xbox

If Xbox didn’t need a hard disk drive then it's likely that Microsoft would make more of the Kinect motion sensor, according to the researchers. In this concept, the gamer would need an Xbox controller which communicates with a Kinect.

As well as facilitating an interactive gaming experience, the future Kinect will be able to communicate with Xbox live, allowing users to purchase games online. Aesthetically the design draws inspiration from the current Kinect model as well as the angular lines of the Xbox One.